Delayed old summertime, arrives in Buffalo...for good?

The temperature officially hit 86 degrees at 4 p.m., according to National Weather Service data.

It was the third straight 80-degree day in Buffalo with another on tap Tuesday.

"We're getting to the warmest time of the year," said Jim Mitchell, National Weather Service meteorologist. "Mid to late July is typically our warmest time of the year."

That's because the sun angle is at its highest in late June resulting in longer days of warming, Mitchell said. Even though the days are technically getting shorter now, the ground has absorbed all that warmth and allows the air to warm up quicker helping to provide for these sultry July days.

After the passage of a cold front that could bring a deluge of rain Tuesday afternoon and evening and cooler temperatures for Wednesday and Thursday, weather service forecasts show there's another impending streak of warmth on tap later this week.

"We'll see a bit more heat and humidity come back in later in the weekend and the start of next week," Mitchell said.

Early forecasts for Sunday and next Monday show high temperatures of 85 degrees in what would become a healthy streak of 8 out of 10 days in the 80s - the most so far this year.

In contrast, the mercury only hit the 80-degree mark five times in June, the fourth fewest on record for a Buffalo June and just half as many days as it did during the preceding month of May.

Despite the recent warm-up, the temperature has still yet to top out at 90 or above in 2015 - something it also failed to do all of last year.

The last 90-degree day in Buffalo was July 16, 2013 when the thermometer peaked at 92.

T.J. Pignataro – T.J. Pignataro has been a staff reporter for The Buffalo News for more than 20 years and the environment and weather reporter since 2013. He holds a juris doctor degree from SUNY Buffalo Law School.